Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. He gained a reputation as a humanitarian as the head of the American Relief Administration, which distributed food and relief supplies throughout Europe following World War I. Under President Warren Harding, Hoover served as U.S. secretary of commerce, where he helped direct the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Hoover Dam. Unable to address the severe unemployment, homelessness, and hunger brought on by the Great Depression, Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election.

He was born in West Branch, Iowa, the son of Jesse Hoover, a blacksmith, and Hulda Minthorn Hoover, a seamstress. When Hoover was six years old, his father died of heart disease, and he lost his mother four years later to pneumonia. Hoover then left Iowa for Oregon, where he was raised by his maternal uncle and aunt, John and Laura Minthorn. He graduated from Stanford University in 1895, and there he met his future wife, Lou Henry. Together, they raised two children.

In the years following his presidency, he wrote several books critical of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Until Pearl Harbor was attacked, Hoover opposed US involvement in World War II, and he also condemned American participation in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He died in New York City in 1964 at the age of 90.

Martin Thomas Manton (1880-1946) was a district and federal judge. In 1916, he was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Two years later, he was again appointed by Wilson to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1939, he became the first U.S. federal judge charged with bribery. Though later acquitted of that charge, he was convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice and received the maximum penalty—two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, for which he served 19 months in federal prison.

The son of Irish-immigrant parents, Manton was born in New York City. He received his law degree from Columbia University in 1901 and went into private law practice from 1901 to 1916. In 1907, he married Eva Morier. Manton eventually retired to Fayetteville, New York, where he died in 1946 at the age of 66.

The Hoover-Manton Playgrounds are located in Briarwood on Manton Street (also named for Manton), between 134th Street, 83rd Avenue, and Main Street.